Laughaholic
by RainBlossom
Summary: Neji's father is assassinated and he finds himself in need of a job, so he enters the service of the only place that will hire him-- Konami Café. There Neji meets the young owner who hired him and finds that work won't be as bad as he originally thought.


Laughaholic

A Neji x Hoshi Fic.

Dedicated to Nissan Hoshi

Chapter 1: Konami Café

I looked up at my new place of work and sighed. There was absolutely _no_ way that this would go well. This little café was run by a _woman_ for goodness' sake! But after my father passed away, no one else would hire me, and I accepted the only job offer I could get with my few recommendations, and it was at this place— Konami Café.

I shuffled through the glass door, setting off a string of chimes that announced my presence. I was hoping to be inconspicuous, but no such luck was gained. The stares of the majority of the patrons in the café were now directed at me, the famous son of Hyuuga Hizashi, the man who had been assassinated in broad daylight with no on even noticing. I didn't want this kind of attention— or any attention really, as it was just annoying— so I stepped behind the counter to follow the directions I was given with my letter of acceptance. I had to find the owner of the café to report for work.

I noticed a small door off to the side of things in the extensive area of the employee side of the counter, which I then opened and went through to see a small lounge, presumably for those workers on break, if the two females conversing at a coffee table were anything to go by.

They didn't seem to notice when I came through the door, which was good, because I recognized one of them as that annoying reporter, Yamanaka Ino, the one who was questioning me about what the effects of both my parents now being gone were on my life, and what it was like knowing that my uncle wouldn't let me live with him because I wasn't from the better part of the family. I never answered her; of course, I had just ignored her and walked away. But that meant that she would probably annoy me again now, wanting some sort of "inside scoop" on what my life had become like.

Luckily for me, Yamanaka-san stopped talking to the other woman, and hurried out saying that she was late for her job.

I was left in the expectant glance of a female a year or so younger than me that had short, blue-streaked blond hair cascading towards her shoulders, but not quite touching them. She was kind of cute.

"Ah, Hyuuga Neji, correct?" she asked, pushing her side-part-caused bangs out from in front of her glasses. I nodded in response to her question, and she began talking again. "Okay, I have a full-time position for you, and you can start today, because no one else can work. They all claim to be sick, but I know that they're at that concert (cough Three Days Grace concert cough). I'll help you close, since I'm sure you haven't worked in a café before, but up until closing, you're working on your own so that I can observe your skills."

I wondered if 'observe your skills' meant 'stare dreamily at me when it looks like I'm not paying attention' like it did to most other girls. But when I glanced back at the owner, her face showed no interest in my looks. That was good, because I didn't want a boss who would hang all over me, especially one that was younger than me.

"Ah, I never did get your name," I pointed out.

"Oh, my name is Nissan Hoshi. You can call whatever you would like as long as it doesn't have to do with the names 'Eggdrop' or 'Rebecca.' Trust me; you don't want to know why."

I erased the bemused look from my face and bowed, exiting the room to wash my hands before I started work, as was customary and required.

When I finally stepped up to the register, it seemed as if the number of people waiting in line to purchase something doubled in female quantity, and I sighed, knowing that it wasn't just me, or rather, it _was_ just me. The first girl in line that ordered a slice of apple pie only proved my point by fluttering her eyelashes when purchasing the food, and winking when telling me o keep the change.

I was used to this kind of harassment though, as vain as that sounds, and the fact that my name was currently all over the news with my father's death right beside it only made matters worse. Women seemed to be attracted to the good-looking, lonely type, as if the fact that a man was lonely would make him instantly fall in love with them.

And I was forced to suffer through a half an hour of girls buying desserts or asking for refills of their drinks simply because they wanted to be near me, or so that they could 'accidentally' brush my hand when they received their change back. After that half an hour, all of those annoying girls left, and when I asked Nissan-sama, she said that they were probably going to that concert too, as girls at the prime age often would.

I was thankful for whatever concert this was because it had just saved me from a _large_ amount of annoyance, but now the café was deserted and I wondered if this would have an effect on my pay for today, although I figured it would be rude to ask such a question. Nissan-sama left me alone to go on the computer in the lounge room, and after five minutes, I was bored. But that was when a customer conveniently walked through the door to alleviate my boredom.

It was a man with dark hair that looked almost blue where the light shone on it and he wore a blank black t-shirt with black shorts that brushed the tops of his knees. He had a confident spring in his step that said he was most likely self-centered, and certainly overly confident.

He strode up to the counter and said, "Hey babe, where's Hoshi?"

I nearly smacked him across the face. Didn't he notice my obviously flat and masculine chest? But I pointed towards the back room and called Nissan-sama to come over.

Sasuke gestured for her to join him in walking towards a more secluded part of the café for whatever reason. That guy was probably the boyfriend of my boss. What was I getting my hopes up for; of course a girl like _her_ would have a boyfriend. Hold on a minute, did I just think what I thought I just thought? I wasn't thinking of my boss in that manner at all, that would be trouble, especially since she already had a sweetheart.

I suddenly forgot about my little talk to myself when I heard Nissan-sama speaking louder than before.

"Don't touch me, Sasuke! I told you, I don't like you like that," she said firmly.

But I could hear the persistent smirk in Sasuke's voice as he said, "Yes you do, you know you do."

That boy must have been the famous Uchiha, the one with all of that money and the famous corporation. But just because he was rich and famous didn't mean that I would let him hurt _my_ Hoshi— I mean, hurt Nissan-sama.

So I walked quietly over behind the booth seat that Sasuke was sitting next to Hoshi in and saw him keeping Nissan-sama from moving while leaning in to kiss her. My fingers moved of their own volition to a certain point in Sasuke's spine that knocked him unconscious, and Nissan-sama looked up at me gratefully as Sasuke slumped over and permitted her to get up from her previously pinned position.

"Thank you, Neji-kun," she said, and gave me a quick hug.

My normally blank face flushed for a moment at the fact that Nissan-sama had showed me two affections in succession, but I quickly convinced myself that it was nothing. Nissan-sama was just happy to not be sexually harassed by that creep of an Uchiha who still thought that I was a girl.

"It is no problem, Nissan-sama," I began. "I don't like the type of slime that tries to force themselves onto others who aren't interested in them." _Probably because I seem to often be on the receiving end of such emotions_, I added to myself mentally.

"Well, thank you all the same. And you don't need to call me Nissan-sama, Hoshi would do just fine."

"I prefer to say Nissan-sama," I said.

"Please call me Hoshi, Nissan-sama is so distant, I want us to be close."

"Fine, Hoshi," I said, feeling the pleasant tingle of the foreign word on my tongue coincide with the flutter in my stomach from when Hoshi said, 'I want us to be close.' And she laughed at the expression that adorned my face from the effort of holding back a smile. That's when I decided that I really preferred to call her Hoshi, because her laughter was a better sound than that of the singing of a thousand angels.

**A/N:**** This is made for a friend of mine, who you have probably already guessed is Hoshi. Yes, her last name is referring to the car dealership, it's a long story. Hopefully, you liked this and will review, although I have found that not that many people read fic.s about their favorite character and an OC, but whatever. Thank you for reading this, goodbye!**


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